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Thursday, September 4, 2014

Gallup: 71% of Americans Support 'Right to Work' Laws

PRINCETON, NJ -- A slim majority of Americans, 53%, approve of labor
unions, although approval remains on the low end of Gallup's nearly
80-year trend on this question. Approval has been as high as 75% in the
1950s. Currently, 38% disapprove of unions.

At the same time Americans express greater approval than disapproval
of unions, they widely support right-to-work laws. Those laws allow
workers to hold jobs in unionized workplaces without joining a union.
Currently, 10% of Americans identify as union members according to
Gallup's Aug. 7-10 poll.

In an update of a question asked in 1957, 71% of Americans said they
would "vote for" a right-to-work law if they had the opportunity to do
so, while 22% said they would vote against such a law. That is a
slightly higher level of support than Gallup measured nearly 60 years
ago.

The popularity of right-to-work laws may be a result of Americans'
greater agreement with a major argument put forth by right-to-work
proponents than by one of the main arguments put forth by opponents of
such laws. The poll finds 82% of Americans agreeing that "no American
should be required to join any private organization, like a labor union,
against his will," a position advanced by right-to-work proponents.
Pro-union forces partly oppose right-to-work laws because of the
"free-rider" problem, with non-union workers benefitting as much as
union workers when unions negotiate pay and benefit increases with
employers. But by 64% to 32%, Americans disagree that workers should
"have to join and pay dues to give the union financial support" because
"all workers share the gains won by the labor union."Currently, 24 U.S. states have right-to-work laws in place, including
Indiana and Michigan who passed theirs in 2012. The Indiana law's fate
is uncertain given recent legal challenges to it. The states with
right-to-work laws tend to be Republican-leaning states, mostly in the
South, Mountain West, and Plains areas of the country. That is
consistent with the preferences of rank-and-file Republicans nationally,
who disapprove of unions by 57% to 32%, and support right-to-work laws
by 74% to 18%. Democrats, meanwhile, overwhelmingly approve of labor
unions. Interestingly, though, most Democrats favor right-to-work laws,
and their support nearly matches that of Republicans.

Democrats' widespread approval of unions, and their support for
right-to-work laws, appear at odds. It is possible they may be
sympathetic to the concept of unions and what they stand for in theory,
but may disagree with some of the specific policies unions favor that
could interfere with the opportunities for non-union members to secure
employment.Gallup has a limited sample of union members in its poll, and the
data suggest that they are divided in their views of right-to-work laws
rather than being outright opposed to them.Implications

Although Americans widely favor right-to-work laws, only about half
of the states have passed such laws. The right-to-work debate is ongoing
in states like Ohio and Wisconsin, and New Mexico and Kentucky may
adopt those laws if Republicans win control of the legislatures in those
states in the next election.

The evidence for whether right-to-work laws are a net positive or net
negative to states is mixed. On the one hand, consistent with the
arguments of proponents, right-to-work states do appear to attract more
business than states without such laws. On the other hand, consistent
with the arguments of proponents, workers in right-to-work states appear
to be worse off in terms of pay and benefits than workers in other
states.

It is clear that whether a state has a right-to-work law in place is a
reflection of the politics surrounding labor unions, with Democrats
showing much greater support for labor unions than Republicans.
Political leaders in states that tend to be politically Democratic and
where Democrats are currently in power are unlikely to pursue laws
strongly opposed by unions. Most Republican-leaning states already have
such laws in place, consistent with Republicans' more anti-union stance.
States that are more competitive politically may enact right-to-work
laws if Republicans can win party control of the state government, as
occurred in Michigan and may happen in Kentucky and New Mexico.Americans, though, are clearly less supportive of labor unions, and
somewhat more supportive of right-to-work laws, than in the past. Union
membership is also on the decline, which in turn makes unions less of a
political force than they used to be. If these trends continue, more
states could adopt right-to-work laws in the future.

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